Crocker, Burbank and Co., Asscn.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 10, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 1364 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of CROCKER, BURBANK AND Co., ASSCN., EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS , LocAL 468, AFL,
PETITIONER
Case No.1 RC-385
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 10, 1949
On November 23, 1948, the Board issued a Decision and Direction
of Election in the above-entitled proceeding,' directing an election
among certain employees of the Employer, including, inter alia,
"hydroelectric station" employees. Thereafter, and pursuant thereto,
the Regional Director for the First Region, on December 16, 1948,
conducted an election by secret ballot among these employees. Upon
the conclusion of the election, a Tally of Ballots was furnished the
parties in accordance with the Rules and Regulations of the Board.
The Tally shows that of approximately 47 eligible voters, 45 cast
ballots, of which 20 were for the Petitioner, 7 were for the Intervenor,
1 was against the participating labor organizations, and 17 were chal-
lenged. No objections were filed to conduct of the election by any of
the parties.
On December 27, 1948, the Employer filed a motion requesting clari-
fication of the voting group insofar as it concerned hydroelectric
station employees and urging that the record be reopened if necessary.
On January 24, 1949, the Board denied the motion, without prejudice,
however, to further investigation for clarification if the same ap-
peared necessary after the Regional Director had issued his report on
challenges.
Thereafter, on January 31, 1949, the Regional Director, having
conducted an investigation, issued his Report on Challenged Ballots.
In his report the Regional Director found that the Employer employs
no hydroelectric station employees, as such; that the Employer op-
erates from time to time, as circumstances permit, three hydroelectric
3 80 N L. R B 774
81 N L R B., No. 222.
1364
CROCItER, DtJ1 BANIl AND CO., ASSCN. 1365
power stations; that the maintenance and service work required for
these hydroelectric power stations is performed briefly and inci-
dentally by certain of the Employer's maintenance electricians, whose
principal work is in the Employer's mills; and that the 17 challenged
ballots were cast by those maintenance electricians who, at one time
or another, had assisted in the maintenance and service of the hydro-
electric power stations for intermittent periods of short duration.
The Regional Director recommended that the 17 challenges be sus-
tained. The Regional Director further recommended that the Board
reexamine the composition of the unit appropriate for the Employer's
employees herein concerned in the light of its findings upon the issues
herein presented.
No exceptions have been filed by any of the parties to the Regional
Director's findings above set forth. The Intervenor, however, ob-
jects to the recommendations of the Regional Director respecting
"hydroelectric station" employees, but requests that, if the Board
adopt the recommendations, the Board find that the electricians who
maintain and service the hydroelectric power stations comprise a part
of the over-all unit of which it is bargaining representative. The Em-
ployer requests that, on the basis of the Regional Director's findings,
the Board delete the words "hydroelectric station employees" from its
unit finding in this case.
In the absence of exceptions, we shall adopt the Regional Director's
findings of fact. We find that the Employer does not employ "hydro-
electric station employees," and that the challenged voters are not
eligible to vote. The challenges are therefore hereby sustained.
In the Decision and Direction of Election previously referred to,
the Board made no final determination of the appropriate unit for
the employees in the voting group, but stated that such determination
would depend in part on the results of the election.
Because it now appears that the Employer employs no hydro-
electric station employees, we shall omit this category from the unit
hereinafter found to be appropriate.2
On the basis of the entire record in the case, the Board makes the
following :
SUPPLEMENTAL FINDINGS OF FACT
We find that all employees at the Employer's Central Steam Plant
and the boiler room of Mill No. 5, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, including
operating engineers, head firemen, firemen assistants, firemen helpers,
2
The proper unit placement of the maintenance electricians who voted under challenge
in the election , and who we find are not hydroelectric station employees as such, is not
primarily before the Board in this proceeding , nor is their unit placement affirmatively
affected by our decision respecting the unit found appropriate in this proceeding
1366 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
relief firemen, millwrights and millwright helpers, coal handlers, and
janitors, but excluding executives, office and clerical employees, pro-
fessional employees, guards, and all supervisors, constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
As the Petitioner has secured a majority of the valid votes cast by
the employees in the appropriate unit, we shall certify it as the exclu-
sive bargaining representative of all such employees.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that International Union of Operating En-
gineers, Local 468, AFL, has been selected by a majority of all em-
ployees at the Employer's Central Steam Plant and the boiler room of
Mill No. 5, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, including operating engineers,
head firemen, firemen assistants, firemen helpers, relief firemen, mill-
wrights and millwright helpers, coal handlers, and janitors, but ex-
cluding executives, office and clerical employees, professional em-
ployees, guards, and all supervisors, as their representative for
purposes of collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages,
hours of employment, and other conditions of employment.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG and MEMBER MURDOCK took no part in the con-
sideration of the above Supplemental Decision and Certification of
Representatives.